The Frostbite On His Fingers Is Getting Better
Published on 24.03.2010 - One Man Epic Mission North Pole
It seems that the frostbite on Tom's fingers that was mentioned in his previous message is not as serious as we had thought. Furthermore, he has celebrated his fortieth birthday on the ice.With some nice little words and a double ration of peanut butter, toboot.
On 21 March, the webmaster acted as Tom's relay and wrote: "I'm a bit worried about my fingers", Tom wrote. "It seems possible that some of them are letting me down... Some of them are black at their fingertips, which doesn't make things easy. Moreover, they are painful when they thaw out in the tent in the evening. Taking off or putting on my boots in the tent, for example, has become really painful... "
The following day, Jim the webmaster wrote that, basically, the frostbite concerns were no great handicap for the expedition. Because they were not impeding Tom during his daytime progress. It is only in the evening that he suffered, when he had to be dextrous with his fingers. And then, he shared this curious thought and that we all have to understand in our own way: he wrote that, all in all, the loss of a few fingers would be a small price to pay in the light of the feat that was being accomplished !
23 March was special, as it was Tom's fortieth birthday. First of all, he was the happiest man in the world to be privileged enough to celebrate his birthday in such a place and under such conditions. Then, as is customary among polar adventurers, he opened the envelopes containing kind words from his nearest and dearest, which is obviously always a great moment in the life of an expedition, because where there's "surprise" there's "motivation". Finally, he treated himself to the luxury of clean underwear and socks, so the acrid smell that used to permeate the tent of an evening had, on this red-letter day, disappeared. A double ration of peanut butter had been the icing on the cake.
However, he was making regular progress -just under ten kilometres per day (his position on 23 March: 84° 25.477 N / 73° 57.702 W). The ice, he said, was becoming a little better and the interstitial waters were less frequent. Jim feels that Tom's determination to bring his adventure to a successful conclusion is stronger than ever; in a few days time, furthermore, it is expected that the adventurer will up the pace and spend more time on the ice each day. All in all, nothing but good news...
